Praedicator

Verba

Sunday, August 23, 2009 - Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time

[Joshua 24:1-2A, 15-17, 18B; Ephesians 5:21-32; John 6:60-69]

If it does not please you to serve the Lord, decide today whom you will serve......As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord. - Joshua
"Do you also want to leave?" Simon Peter answered him, "Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." Gospel of John

Having lived in San Antonio for some years on three different assignments, I came to be familiar with the "holy of holies" of Texas, the Alamo! One of the stories connected with the events commemorated there is the one about the "line in the sand" which was a moment of decision. Who was going to stay and fight to the death, and who was going to leave while the leaving was possible? Today the scriptures offer us two different occasions which involve a "line in the sand." In the case of the Alamo, the decision was a decision about a "cause" worthy to fight for. In the case of Joshua and Jesus (the names are the same in Hebrew), it is a matter of allegiance to a person!
Our current cultural environment is hostile to "lines in the sand" when it comes to commitments. We like to have options. Commitments become convenient "arrangements" which are not expected to be lifelong in nature. A marriage becomes like an organization we join and pay dues to! A Church is much the same! Any spouse or preacher who draws a "line in the sand" just isn't being "realistic" in our relativized world. Anyone who believes that has just decided that he or she is not on the same side of the line as Jesus! Our culture loves to raise a thousand "what if's" to every call for commitment. Joshua and Jesus leave no room for "what if's!" If you move to their side of the line, you declare your ultimate allegiance. If you stay on the other side, you're "on your own." The details are worked out AFTER the commitment is made and kept, not BEFORE. Forget about "straddling." That is the first "option" to go. Nor do we get to draw the line where we want it to go. Joshua's leadership became a moment of decision. Jesus' teaching about the Eucharist in the Gospel of John was another. But the choice in both cases was not about what's on the other side of the Jordan or what the teaching meant. It was a choice about the individual: Joshua as leader, Jesus as the one who has the words of eternal life. The choice today is about Jesus. If we choose him, we choose his teaching. We may have to struggle for a lifetime to understand and live that teaching, but there will be no question which side of the line we're standing on. AMEN